Ladder 49: Critic Reviews

95%

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

41%

RottenTomatoes: 168 reviews

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Rick Kisonak MovieWeb (Top Critic)

30

The risks firefighters take, like the sacrifices they make every day, are all too real. They deserve our thanks, our respect and infinitely better movie treatment than this.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

67

Aside from the awesome flames and pyrotechnic scenes of crisis, danger, and part-of-the-job bravery, the movie is a quiet salute; it does its job.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Manohla Dargis New York Times (Top Critic)

20

This is essentially a male weepie about strong, simple men and the strong, simple women behind them, and as such it's platitudinous rubbish.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Mike Clark USA Today (Top Critic)

50

Needs cogent drama or star power, but it doesn't have either.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Ann Hornaday Washington Post (Top Critic)

Offers audiences a real rarity in theaters these days: a good, honest cry.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

Even the best scenes feel canned, secondhand, packaged. We've seen this all before.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

63

As more than one character reminds us, these are men who run into burning buildings when you and I are busy running out. All the boilerplate in Hollywood can't change that.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Ben Kenigsberg Village Voice (Top Critic)

A serviceable testament to the firemen who would bravely risk their lives to protect the safety of others, etc., etc.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Jack Mathews New York Daily News (Top Critic)

75

A profile in everyday courage, the common denominator of men who fight fires for a living, choosing to go into buildings that other people are trying to get out of.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Amy Biancolli Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

75

An imperfect but deeply affecting movie about the unadorned heroism of working-class firefighters.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Philip Wuntch Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

50

Not a saga told with subtlety.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Michael Booth Denver Post (Top Critic)

75

It may be years before any writer makes an on-screen firefighter into a loser, let alone a villain. In the meantime, Ladder 49 will stoke the embers on all of our firefighter daydreams.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

88

The best compliment I can pay Ladder 49 is to say that it left me feeling thoughtful and sad.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Allison Benedikt Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

50

A condescending and cloying melodrama, constructed around the almighty flashback and slick in pretending to tell the human story.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

50

A series of Hallmark-card platitudes, not a human portrait.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Jeff Strickler Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

88

The movie isn't afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. But the sentiment never seems out of place, perhaps because we're talking about people who aren't afraid to put their lives on the line.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

34

What it has is a tired narrative frame ... a lost ensemble cast, no depth of character and a series of situations taken straight from the land of obvious.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Bill Muller Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

40

Laughably short on character development.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Brian Lowry Variety (Top Critic)

Full Review » 4 years ago
Megan Lehmann New York Post (Top Critic)

25

Plays as if the filmmakers compiled a list of every smoke-eater cliche imaginable and then resolutely set about crossing them off.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

60

Every cliche in every movie or TV show about firemen is recycled here but often to pleasant effect.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Geoff Pevere Toronto Star (Top Critic)

40

The story of Jack Morrison (Joaquin Phoenix), a guy so emotionally uncomplicated and unquestioningly dedicated to rescuing people he might have been raised by Saint Bernards.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Leah McLaren Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

25

The kind of sentimental cash grab that can make a red-blooded gal feel cynical and depressed not just about Hollywood, but America in general.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Stephanie Zacharek Salon.com (Top Critic)

Ladder 49 might have been an oversized Hollywood dazzler. Phoenix keeps it firmly and modestly on a human scale.
Full Review » 8 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

63

I would classify Ladder 49 as a 'safe' movie. There's nothing daring about it, but it offers a solid emotional core and there is a touching payoff.
Full Review » 8 years ago